The National Control Commission for Prices and Energy instructed Lietuvos Dujos to keep to the methods and timeframe set out in the plan, which calls for its gas transmission operations to be spun off into a new company by 31 July 2013 and distribution operations to be transferred to a newly-established subsidiary by 31 October 2014.
Following of the reorganization, which is to be completed by October 2014, the spun off company will own the gas transmission pipelines, Lietuvos Dujos will continue to operate as a gas supplier and the newly established subsidiary will have taken over the distribution functions.
It is likely that Lietuvos Dujos' current shareholders - E.ON Ruhrgas, Gazprom and the Lithuanian government - will continue to hold stakes in all the companies up to October 2014. After that, if the parties do not agree on a buyout price and other terms, Gazprom and E.ON Ruhrgas will be able to stay in the new gas transmission company as financial investors, with no votes and rights, except that to dividends.
However, if the government reaches an agreement with Gazprom and E.ON, the companies will sell their shares in the transmission company. Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas has said repeatedly that the state should own the transmission pipelines.
Gazprom currently owns 37.06 percent of shares in Lietuvos Dujos, E.ON Ruhrgas International holds 38.9 percent, and the Energy Ministry holds 17.7 percent.
Prices will rise
A senior executive of Lietuvos Dujos said on Thursday that the planned separation of the company's gas transmission and distribution assets will lead to a rise in prices for Lithuania and its consumers, but a regulatory official said that it is too early to say so.
"Certainly, yes," Saulius Bilys, head of the Strategic Development Unit at Lietuvos Dujos, told reporters when asked if gas prices may go up as a result of the unbundling.
Bilys was speaking after the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy approved the company's unbundling plan.
"There have been such company split-ups in Europe. This is not a new process. The definite answer in all these cases has been that this leads to a rise in prices," he said.
Bilys would not say how much gas prices may rise.
"The price commission sets caps on end prices. The company then sets its prices within those caps. I don't want to speculate," he said.
Meanwhile, Danas Janulionis, deputy chairman of the regulatory authority, told reporters that it was too early to say that gas prices will rise as a result of the split of Lietuvos Dujos. "It is a premature question. After the company is split up, its new owner will be known. The price will depend on its actions," he said.
